X
by FreeWriter93
Summary: The secret origin of Red X, and his very first encounter with the Titans...From his point of view. Rated T just to be safe
1. X Part 1

Red X: The Series

Episode 1: X Part 1

Disclaimer: Red X and the Teen Titans are property of DC. I do not own anything.

I would like to thank my buddies Galajo and Sir Galleon for proof reading this series. As well as 'The Red X', for writing 'Once a Thief' from which I drew inspiration for this story (check it out, it's one of the few good Red X stories on the site).

Without further ado

Red X: Episode 1

The train screeched to a halt at station, opening its doors to release a swarm of people, be it returning citizens or tourists. Jump City had been attracting much more traffic ever since the appearance of a certain 'T' shaped building off the coast. Superhero fans and sightseers from all over the country were sweeping in to take a look at the magnificent structure and maybe even catch a glimpse of the city's protectors.

But he wasn't here for the Titans.

As the cloud of alighting passengers cleared a young boy stepped off the train, dressed in a plain white shirt, along with tattered jeans and a black jacket resting on his shoulders. His dark, messy hair was kept in place with a red baseball cap. Surveying his surroundings from behind a pair of shades, he placed his heavy duffel bag on the ground and stretched giving a huge yawn, the train ride had been a long a boring one and he couldn't wait to move in to his new apartment and watch some TV, once again heaving his belongings over his shoulder he casually made his way towards the exit gates.

Today was the start of his new life.

XXX

While the train ride was certainly a bore-fest, the taxi ride to his new apartment however, was a whole different story.

The taxi driver was an avid Titans fan and one could tell this by the almost disturbing amount of Titans memorabilia he had gathered on his dashboard, pictures, stickers, those dangling things that hang from the mirror and even bobbleheads ('Bobble heads?' the boy thought, 'didn't they debut only a couple of months ago?') that and he wouldn't shut up about them.

He was babbling on and on about how he had gotten all of those pictures, custom made those stupid bobble heads and even claimed to have _seen _the Teen Titans in action ('Gee what with all of those supervillains popping up I'd be surprised if you caught a glimpse of only _one_ of them.')

For the most part he tried to ignore the fanboy, staring out the window at the buildings zooming by, occasionally nodding his head and giving an 'uh huh' here and there. Jump city was very different from his old town, for one thing, there was actually an abundance of people walking around the streets, carefree and innocent, going about their daily business without fear. Back at home, people were scared of coming out, especially at night, for the fear that some crazed psycho would jump out and get them…

It was somehow comforting for the boy, at the very least this place wouldn't remind him of the dark and gloomy atmosphere of his hometown, with the archaic architecture and intimidating skyline, somehow he knew he was going to like it here.

XXX

After giving the Taxi Driver a generous tip he was finally standing at the door to his new apartment.

It was not quite like what he expected to say the least, considering how much money he paid for it. Though it wasn't the same as his old place, it was a step up from living in the streets. It was small, two-story building, brick-red and dirty, the windows were slightly cracked and some were boarded up shut. It looked like it could collapse into a pile of ash from a small breeze. He walked up the steps and with the turn of a key, stepped through the creaky old door. The inside fared no better, the place had obviously not had any inhabitants for years.

Shutting the door behind him he walked into the living room, to the sight of an old and busted couch, a broken lamp and a small coffee table, the place stunk of rotting rat carcasses, but that wasn't the worst part…

There was no TV.

Angrily tossing his bag onto the couch he plopped down on it, kicking up a cloud of dust, sending the poor teen into a coughing fit. Great, now he was stuck, living in a crappy apartment with no TV. Grumbling to himself, he thought about his next move, it would take weeks for him to clean up the joint on his own, and even then he would still be living in a crappy apartment, he needed to fix this place up, pronto.

Getting up, he walked over to his duffel bag, he had planned on taking a break that day, but he needed money. He opened the bag to reveal an assortment of tools and equipment, wire cutters, lock picks, a crowbar, rope, everything he needed to get a job done.

Pulling a dark red ski mask over his face, the darkest color he could find on such short notice, the boy smirked…

Time to go to work.

But first…

XXX

A few hours later the teen was once again surveying his living room, it was now clean and smelled like pine trees. Thankfully he still had running water and electricity. Behind the couch lay some opened boxes, its contents had already been removed and used, to the corner leaned a vacuum cleaner and to the side of the couch, a very nice lamp, but one box lay unopened.

With a crazed grin on his face, the boy tore open the box, revealing a small, but nevertheless brand new television.

Yes this was going to be a fun weekend.

XXX

Within a few months the teen had transformed his rat's ass of an apartment into something a little more decent. Gone was the smell and grime, instead, he would come back to an air-conditioned home and enjoy his programs in comfort of a black leather couch. Rather than a mattress on the floor with itchy sheets, he would sleep on a bed worthy of a five star hotel room.

Life had been tough on the streets back at home and it seemed like only the thrill of thievery kept him from losing it completely, the excitement that welled up within him when he picked the lock, knowing full well that he could get caught at any second, and the sweet ecstasy that followed when he succeeded. While the others were off getting themselves killed in gang wars or doing drugs, he was off picking pockets and lifting tires. He only got caught once, and after that he thought of going straight for a while…

The new job never really worked out for him though, plus his boss was a jerk, so here he was, back in the game, the greatest thief the world had never seen.

To think he started out in this town with nothing, truly the best hobby in the world is always one you can make a profit out of. He would sure like to see the look on his old man's face if he saw all of this.

As the classy cat burglar plopped himself down on his couch and turned on his brand new widescreen plasma TV, he smiled.

Too Easy.

XXX

Really, it was too easy.

His last few heists had been… Mediocre to say the least, a cut wire there, a picked lock here and instantly he would have his hands on the merchandise. To be fair he had only been picking small targets, electronics stores, jewelers, the occasional house or two, nothing big like museums or banks. Even so the targets back at home had much higher security than here, maybe they were complacent because they had a team of superheroes on patrol, or maybe they were too busy worrying about supervillains to sweat the small stuff. Quite frankly it seemed like a chore; in the last couple of day stealing was starting to feel less like a hobby and more like…

A Job

The teen clutched his head and gave a shout of anguish. He needed to find some more challenging targets fast, heaven forbid he die from the lack of excitement. He jumped off the couch and started pacing, he needed a new target, something big. A bank? No, this job needed to be something special, something that would make up for all the excitement he had been missing out on with the small jobs, something that would give him a thrill beyond anything he had done here or back on the streets…

Out of the corner of his eye he spied an article on the front page of the local paper.

'Teen Titans foil bank robbery'

Picking up the paper, the young thief looked at the picture, depicting the old man credited as Mumbo being loaded up into a police car, with the six titans posing in the background (six? Didn't know they got a new girl).

Staring at the titans' smiling faces, he grinned.

Perfect

XXX

Along with fighting crime and saving cities, the Teen Titans were also notorious for their love of pizza. Much like any group of teenagers living together in one building, the quickest and most convenient thing to do when faced with a food shortage was to call the local pizza joint. This was not however, convenient for said pizza joint, as delivery boys would have to ride out to the coast, get into a speedboat and deliver the pizza to their doorstep all within 30 minutes, on the plus side they gave generous tips.

Meanwhile the boat was kept in a small boathouse owned by the Pizza place, where one unfortunate employee would get stuck guarding the place for hours at a time, just in case a pizza needed to be delivered.

Joe Anderson had sadly drawn the short straw at work that day, and would be trapped there for three hours for the morning shift. Not that he really needed to be there considering the Titans were out on patrol at this time. If anything he was there to make sure that nobody tried to steal the boat.

Suddenly, he saw someone running towards him, dressed in the same goofy uniform that he was in. The figure rushed to a stop in front of the man, panting heavily. Joe didn't recognize the boy, who looked up at him with his hands on his knees, a mop of bright red hair draped over his face. He must be new.

'I'm…(pant) here to…(pant) take your shift (pant)' wheezed the boy

'Huh? But my shift only just started.'

'Yeah, well, are you honestly complaining about someone offering you a two whole hours of free time?' grinned the boy.

Joe looked at the boy with a skeptical look, his grin fading; the boy got down on his knees and begged.

'Please sir, I just want to be here in case the Titans order something, it's my last day on the job before I get transferred again, please, you could go for coffee or something, I want to see my heroes one last time. Please give me you shift!' the boy wailed, grabbing Joe around the legs.

'Alright, alright geez get off me,' Joe cried, shaking the boy off, 'You can stay here for the rest of my shift, but the boat better be here when I get back!'

The boy's eyes widened, grinning from ear to ear he got to his feet and saluted, 'Thank you sir! I won't let you down! You won't regret this I promise!'

Joe rolled his eyes as he handed the boy the keys. 'Poor Chap' he thought as he walked away, the Teen titans never ordered pizza at this hour, but hey, he wasn't passing up a chance to get away from that shack.

XXX

As he waved Joe goodbye, the boy made a mental note to never do that again. It was an insult to his dignity for sure, but hopefully the payoff would be worth it.

It was simple enough to procure a uniform the night before, his wig wasn't much of a disguise, but it should have drawn the worker's attention away from the rest of his face. He rushed over to a nearby dumpster and procured his bag of tools, slipping the key into the lock on the boat shack he pushed through to the boat, the same disgusting color as his uniform.

Starting up the engine the teen could feel the excitement bubbling within him once again, this was definitely going to be fun.

XXX

Most of the other citizens of Jump City would kill to get a chance to do what he was doing now, to enter the sacred halls of the home of their biggest celebrities. What mysteries and wonders lay within? Well this devious burglar was about to find out.

As incredible it would be if he broke in through the front door, so much as breathing on that thing would probably set all the alarms off, so instead, the thief walked around the oddly shaped building, searching for another way in.

Naturally he found none.

He quickly began to wonder whether he was in over his head and that perhaps this heist was over before it even began, and then he spotted it.

It was painted white, and so well hidden that he would have missed it had he not looked at the wall a little closer. It was a ventilation shaft. The fire in his heart rekindled, the thief took a look at the potential entry point.

Part of him told him that it was futile, that a ventilation shaft was surely going to have sensors or cameras of some sort protecting it, but he had gone too far to not at least try. Pulling out his screwdriver, he carefully began to unscrew the metal grill. As they fell to the floor with soft thuds, he grabbed the grill with both hands and pulled, waiting for the inevitable sound of the alarm or for some kind of gun to pop out and spray him with goo…

Nothing

The thief cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

Picking up a nearby rock, he threw it into the vent, the rock bounced off the walls with a clatter.

Nothing

Confused, the thief crawled into the shaft and starting carefully making his way through the building, his mind cluttered with an abundance of thought: It has to be a silent alarm. It can't be this easy right? This cannot be all the Titans Tower has to offer…

He quickly found another ventilation grill. Looking through it, he could see nothing but a grey floor. Pausing for a moment, he contemplated whether he should try to get into the room below. The security inside the Tower was probably much better than the outside, no matter what his next move was, he would be taking a big risk. With a determined look, the thief smashed down on the grill and dropped down…

Right into the main security room.

What

The

Crap.

XXX

To say that it was a complete let down would be putting it harshly, but that was what it felt like to the thief.

He was inside the security room of the tower, naturally the only room _without_ cameras as he could see by the abundance of monitors on the panel before him. He couldn't figure it out, how on earth could the security system be this weak? Looking over the panel, he noticed that most of the sensors had been rendered offline in some way or another.

Sabotage? He wondered as he rigged the camera feeds and disabled the remaining sensors, whoever did this cost him most of the thrill he was planning on getting. But he was here, and he wasn't going to leave without some kind of payoff. One monitor caught his eye, it was looking over a large vault, with a white skull on the vault door.

There's a start.

XXX

It somehow seemed like cheating, he had deactivated the security cameras and sensors and snagged the master door control on his way out, no longer did this place hold any sort of challenge for him, but really, he was too pissed to care. Someone had already robbed him of his chance for excitement, so he had might as well do some robbing of his own.

He had to act fast, after all he had to get the boat back to the shack in half an hour, a short walk and the push of a button later, and he found himself standing before the giant skull-crested door. Strangely, he could feel his heart pumping hard once again, almost as if the vault radiated some strange aura, calling out to him to help himself to the treasures within. The thief took a deep breath, pointing the master control at the door before him, he pressed the button.

Nothing happened

The contents of this vault must be really important for it not to respond to the freaking master control switch. Normally he would try to figure out the vault combo, but he was in a hurry right now. Opening his bag he pulled out a bunch of plastic explosives and started laying charges.

XXX

The thief stared at the contents of the vault, the door now a twisted mess on the floor to his left…

It was a costume

What?

Why would anyone keep a spare set of clothing in a vault?

The costume was jet black, with a stylized 'X' stretched across the chest from left to right. Along with the main costume, there was a pair of grey colored gauntlets and a similarly colored belt. But what really drew his attention was the mask; it was black, much like the rest of the costume, with a menacing skull on it, another red 'X' slashed across its right eye. As he stepped in for a closer look, he could have sworn that it was looking at him, calling to him…

The thief shook his head vigorously from side to side

That was weird

It had to be special if it was locked up in a vault like this, he thought to himself. Whatever the case, it didn't seem like this vault was checked very often, judging by the layers dust covering the door. If he was going to take anything, it had might as well be this awesome Halloween outfit.

Carefully removing each component from its place, the thief stashed the costume away in his bag. As he made his way back towards the security room, he wondered if the Titans would notice that their tower had been broken into…

Remembering that the security system had been sabotaged, he had a gut feeling that a missing suit was going to be the least of their worries that night.

XXX

That evening, the thief was in his living room, the results of his latest heist spread out on the table before him.

The suit itself didn't seem to be that special, but the accessories that came with it were certainly interesting. The mask seemed to have some kind of voice modulator inside, as he soon found out when he put it on and found that he sounded like a prepubescent Darth Vader.

Pulling on the gauntlets he found that there was another red 'X' in the palm of each glove that seemed to glow menacingly when he had the mask on, somehow he didn't think he should be testing the gloves inside the house.

The belt on the other hand, was much more interesting, moving his hand close to the panel on the front would reveal a glowing 'X' shaped button, the belt was also lined with several compartments containing all sorts of gadgets and weapons: X shaped throwing stars, lockpicks, smoke bombs and all sorts of 'X' themed weaponry. One compartment however, contained something a little different, when activated, a small cylindrical tube would pop out, a vial containing a glowing red substance that the thief knew all too well…

Xenothium

_XXX_

_The chemical research laboratory of Star Labs was in a complete mess, just hours before, someone had broken in and rendered the whole place completely asunder, the floor was covered with shattered glass and foul smelling liquids, the lifeless bodies of the lab's scientists lay motionless on the ground. Amidst the chaos stood two caped figures, looking around for any hint as to what their perpetrator had been after._

_The older of the two walked towards a nearby scientist, draped over his computer with a unnatural grin plastered on his face. The elder detective carefully pushed the scientist aside, quickly opening the last file accessed. A picture of a molecular compound flashed on screen._

'_So what was he looking at?' asked his partner_

'_Xenothium,' replied his mentor, 'It's a rare radioactive element, powerful, but highly unstable.'_

'_Do I want to know what he could want with something that dangerous?'_

'_No, you don't. And we are not going to wait here to find out.' With that, the man turned and walked out of the room, his partner following close behind._

_XXX_

On one hand, the thief was shocked that the titans would be tampering with such a destructive material, and on the other, he found it hilarious. The little red boy scout and his troop playing with radioactive explosives, their parents would be so disappointed…

Clearly there was much more to this 'Halloween outfit' than he initially thought, stowing away the vial of Xenothium back in the belt, he would have to take the thing out for a test run. As he walked out of his workshop, the thief gave a tired yawn.

But first, a quick nap.

**XXX**

**He was in a dark room, dressed in bright red, a black cape hanging loosely around him…**

**Suddenly, he heard a maniacal laugh and out of the darkness emerged two large, spotted beasts. The laughter continued as the two ravenous hyenas advanced towards him, drooling and licking their lips. Backed up into a corner, the teen grimaced and braced himself for battle.**

**Atop a pile of crates, a man in purple stood, the source of the laughter, a psychotic smile eternally plastered upon his chalk-white face…**

'**Sic im boys!' **

**XXX**

The thief shot upright with a gasp, he was in his bed, in his apartment in Jump City, no rabid hyenas, no cackling lunatic. Rubbing his temples, he reached for the nearby alarm clock.

… wow.

He must have been more tired than he had thought, but then again, it had taken him the whole of yesterday evening to figure the suit out. He climbed out of bed and made his way downstairs

Within minutes the thief was now wearing the suit, it fit him perfectly, almost like it was made for him…

It was time for a test drive.

XXX

Under the cover of darkness a black figure leapt across the rooftops, his tattered cape billowing behind him. He had forgotten how exhilarating this feeling was, the rush of adrenaline coursing through him as he just barely managed to land on the next rooftop.

It was clear that the suit possessed some kind of complex circuitry that enhanced the wearer's physical capacity, there was no way he could have done this so easily without the suit. Man, he would he have loved to have this thing back when he was in his old town.

All too soon he had found himself standing in the forest near the outskirts of the city, where he was certain he could test out whatever equipment the suit came with without drawing attention to himself. Looking down at the glowing X in the palm of his hand, he pointed it at a nearby tree and concentrated.

…nothing

'Probably should have expected that.' He said to himself

He was pretty sure whom this suit was made for, the boy blunder probably felt a little insecure considering how powerful his teammates were. The thief chortled at the thought.

'If I were Robin, I'd probably have this thing wired to respond to thought somehow, I'd need it to work quickly and on the fly. Now, what would someone as boring as bird boy have as a command word…'

Sifting through a variety of different commands, the thief was jolted out of his trance when he felt something launch out of the glove, the tree before him exploded as the x shaped projectile hit the tree, sending it toppling over.

'Guess 'Fire' activates the explosives…'

XXX

The small clearing where the thief was standing was now in a colossal mess.

Aside from the smell of burning wood and the abundance of chopped up branches on the ground, the grass was stained with gooey red paste and there was one tree with an 'X' wrapped around its trunk. In the middle of this mess stood the lone figure of the black-clad thief. From the back of his gloves protruded large 'X' shaped blades, which he had just used to try his hand at being a lumberjack.

Wow, Boy blunder really thought of everything

Retracting his 'X blades' his eyes fell to the button on the front of the belt, it was the only thing he hadn't tried. Hesitating a little, he pushed down on the large button, silently praying that it wasn't some kind of self-destruct. The 'X' glowed red, and in an instant, he his vision started blurring, like a Television with bad reception, it was only for a few seconds, but it was enough to make him start panicking a little, he felt a tingling sensation in his body, an alien feeling, as if he was being pulled into another world. As his vision cleared, he looked around bewilderedly, he was still in one piece, but he was no longer in the same part of the clearing as before, rather, he was now a few meters into the forest, away from the chaos he had created.

'Teleportation… Nice…'

Now it seemed to make a little more sense that Robin had chosen to use Xenothium to power the suit, there was no way any conventional power supply would be able to provide enough energy to do this and still be efficient. Popping out the vial for a bit, he noted that he still had plenty of fuel left.

So, in addition to breaking into the titans tower, this master thief had managed to secure a suit chock full of gadgets and neat weapons, along with a teleportation device. There was now only one question on his mind.

What now?

Then it hit him, with this suit, he could now break in to any building anywhere, he didn't need to carry around his tools in a cumbersome bag and he now had an abundance of new equipment with which to conduct his heists, if he screwed up, a push of a button and he'd be home free. He could hit dozens of targets every night, rack up money beyond his wildest dreams and finally get the thrill he was looking for.

He could become a Super-Thief.

Of course, now that he was on his way to infamy, he would need a name to go with his new look. Something simple, something that was to the point but mysterious enough to actually be cool, something that said everything about him but nothing at all…

Staring at the symbol in the palm of his hand he smirked.

'_Red X'_

XXX

When Red X got back to the city things weren't quite the same as he had left it.

For one thing, the streets were quiet, around now there would normally be crowds of people going out to dinner and shopping and such, but today, there wasn't a single person in sight.

That and there were armies of robots patrolling the streets.

Red X watched from the top of the pizza joint as the robots silently marched orderly through the streets. He recognized them from the news reports as Slade's robots. Guess he was finally starting to take things a little more seriously.

What was more interesting however, he saw the Titans' newest member dressed in a ridiculous looking armored uniform, with Slade's symbol engraved on the front, floating through the streets on a giant boulder, quietly monitoring the robots' advance. An eerie fog blanketing the entire city…

Something weird was going on here, and Red X decided to do what any self-respecting citizen would do.

He went back home and caught up with it on the local news.

XXX

Predictably, the robots were gone by the next morning, the Titans had declined to give any statements regarding the betrayal of their newest team member. Red X didn't really care, what went on with the Titans was none of his business.

But at least now he knew who to thank for the sweet loot he scored that day.

He was planning on hitting the Jump City Museum that night, not quite as secure as the private collections of some of the city's more wealthy residents, but it would do for a test run. In the meantime, he figured he should pay it a visit to do a little 'window shopping'. Tickled by the thought of his latest scheme, the thief put on his jacket and casually walked out the door.

The life of this thieving prodigy was certainly going to get more exciting from here on end, but what Red X didn't realize was that he was in for a thrill ride unlike any he had ever experienced before.


	2. X Part 2

Red X: The Series

Episode 2: X Part 2

Disclaimer: Red X and the Teen Titans are property of DC. I do not own anything.

Red X: Episode 2

Nobody really knew for sure why the town council had pushed for one to be built in the first place, it wasn't as if anyone needed or asked for a museum in Jump.

But the Jump City Museum stood tall and proud, its doors open for anyone who wanted to see dinosaur skeletons and old Egyptian relics.

That is to say, nobody.

When citizens of Jump look at the museum, all they see is a stack of wasted tax dollars, good only for occasional school field trips and suckering the occasional tourist. People had other things in Jump City to waste their time and money on. Even now, the museum was as quiet as a mouse, the silence only broken by the snores of the unlucky security guard on duty that day.

*click*

…and the sound of a super-thief raiding the storeroom

Again.

As unpopular as it was, the Jump City museum did get quite a few rare artifacts from other museums in the country, too bad most of them ended up sitting in storage for months before anyone unpacked them.

To Red X, there were two kinds of thieving jobs: Jobs he took for the thrill and Jobs he took for the money. The latter of which were easier and payed enough to support his civilian life.

So it was a routine job really: He'd break in, swipe some of the stuff that was collecting dust in the storeroom and be on his merry way. Secure in the knowledge that his pockets would be well lined the next time he went shopping.

Carefully closing up the cases he had ransacked, Red X started for the door.

The sound of footsteps stopped him dead in his tracks.

'Looks like someone's coming in to do a little inventory check.' Red X smirked, reaching for his belt, 'No matter, just a push on the belt and…'

To his surprise, Red X remained exactly where he was. Frantically pressing the button, his face paled as he heard a soft click and the sound of the doorknob turning.

'Uh oh…'

XXX

Professor Gregory Moore calmly walked into the storeroom. Contrary to most of the Museum Staff, Gregory loved working here. It was nice and quiet, different from the crowded and noisy environment present in more well-known museums.

A rather exciting day was coming up in the museum's not-so-distant future: They had gotten ahold of an authentic Egyptian Mummy, kindly donated from a rich businessman.

Walking over to a nearby crate, he carefully moved the lid aside to reveal the sarcophagus of King Khufu IV.

This would be the last day he would be seeing the sarcophagus like this, sitting alone in a box of straw, unseen by the public for so long.

With a small smile, he replaced the lid and walked out of the room, he had a long day ahead of him in the morning.

A few minutes later all was quiet once again, the silence only broken when a loud crash resounded through the room as the Sarcophagus' lid fell to the floor atop the crate's own, sending straw flying in all directions.

A thin black figure stepped out of the coffin, dusting the thousand year-old dust from his form.

'Thanks pal,' Red X patted King Khufu on the chest, 'Um…sorry about the mess.'

XXX

_Good Evening, and welcome to Jump City News_

_Today's top story, no further leads on the sudden string of robberies that have been going on for the past several days. Police have determined that the perpetrator strikes under the cover of darkness, and targets range from tightly guarded private collections to highly secured tech labs. _

_But it appears this heinous criminal's days are numbered as our city's local superheroes have vowed to bring him to justice…_

Red X turned off the TV, a stern frown etched across his face. While he was enjoying the media attention along with the astronomical payoffs for the things he had stolen, the titans were indeed coming closer and closer to catching him in the act. So far he had managed to avoid detection, but he couldn't run forever, especially since he had a problem.

He was running low on Xenothium.

The last few nights had been a series of close calls, with the suit's teleportation mechanism frequently malfunctioning and either sending him to the wrong location or failing to work at all. Most of the time it worked fine, but 'most of the time' was not often enough for Red X, and that incident tonight proved it. He needed to find more Xenothium, fast.

There was definitely a supplier somewhere in the city, or at least a stockpile of it locked away in a vault. After all, there was still some Xenothium in the suit when he 'acquired' it. However, Red X highly doubted that Robin would tell him where he got the stuff if he asked nicely. He needed a Xenothium Detector, and there was only one company that he knew of that made Xenothium Detectors.

Wayne Industries

XXX

Luckily enough for Red X, Wayne Industries had a storage warehouse in Jump City, of course, it was a high security warehouse that was only accessible through an underground tunnel system and was protected by state-of-the-art locks and laser defenses.

But that suited Red X just fine.

Perched on top of a rooftop, Red X watched as the security guards paced left and right at the front gate of the Wayne-Tech building. Carefully aiming his palm at the top of the building, he launched his grappling hook at the roof. Tugging on it slightly to check if it was secured, Red X swung his way over to the side of the building, the two guards none the wiser. Seeing that he hadn't been spotted, Red X began silently making his way up the building.

One would think that a building that guarded the entrance to such valuable pieces of equipment would have had more alarms or security. But there was no sense in wasting money securing the building if the warehouses where already so heavily protected.

Of course, Wayne Industries had never faced the likes of Red X before…at least not in this city anyway.

Upon reaching the top of the building, Red X flipped onto the roof and calmly made his way to the stairway…

XXX

Dana sighed as she finished keying in the quantity of the last item for the inventory check. It had taken her a whole week to finish it, but the bonus would be worth it. All she needed to do now was to get it to the boss's office the next morning.

Turning off the computer, she picked up her coat and started for the door, eager to return home and take a well deserved bubblebath.

Dana shuddered as she walked down the hall, the place sure seemed much more frightening in the dark, she had asked management to keep the lights on for longer, but of course, her request had been denied. 'No reason to have the lights on for just one person' they had replied.

It was true that she was a workaholic, but it was not without good reason, she was really the only person in her family with a steady income, her brothers were still in school, her father's books hadn't been selling well and her mother…

The sound of footsteps made her jump, turning around, she could have sworn that she had caught a glimpse of somebody disappearing down the hall way. Who on earth could it be at this hour? Dana wondered, as far as she knew, she was the only person who ever worked this late. Against her better judgment, Dana quietly made her way back toward her office, wondering if it was just her imagination.

Hugging the wall she heard clicking noises and a door being opened, she carefully peered into the hall leading toward the records department, where the hardcopies of most of the company's documents were stored.

As quietly as she could, Dana crept over and peeked into the gap in the doorway.

Someone dressed in all black was rummaging through the files, he was a looked rather short and couldn't be a day older than 16. A torn and tattered cape was draped around him, and was wearing a mask with a white skull on it. Finally finding what he was looking for, the masked figure started flipping through the file, as she leaned in to see what he was looking at, she gave a small squeak as the door let out a loud creak.

Slowly, the figure's head swiveled around to face her, his eyes showing cold indifference upon his bright white mask. There was an awkward silence in the room, and then in a hollow, digitized voice the figure spoke:

'Long day at the office?'

The woman screamed as Red X dropped the file and shoved her aside, dashing through the doorway and sprinting down the hall.

Dana lay on the ground stunned for a moment, before quickly whipping out her cell phone and dialing 911.

XXX

Red X slashed at the electronic door lock that led to the underground passage, he knew full well that the city's protectors would be hot on his heels soon after, how could he have been so careless?

And what kind of nutjob stays in the office until this time of night?

He didn't want to face the Titans now, though he was confident he could take them on with the amount of power he had now, he had no idea what kind of security they would have at the Xenothium vault. He had to save energy, at least until he got the detector.

Blasting open the doors to the elevator, the master thief leaped into the empty shaft and fired his grappling hook, his only chance was to get to the warehouse, find the detector and get out before the titans caught up to him. The sound of the elevator's turning gears signaled that he didn't have much time.

Dashing down the corridor he found himself face to face with a laser grid, forcing himself to calm down, he carefully placed his laser deflector on the ground, sprinting through the gap in the laser defense system. Even as he heard the sound of crunching metal he continued on, smashing in the keypad for the next door. Running into the next room he found himself standing in the warehouse in the midst of mountains of boxes, with no exit in sight. He swore, realizing that a fight was now inevitable.

Red X heard a sharp gasp behind him, turning around, he came face to face with Teen Titans.

End of the line.

XXX

Red X materialized in the shadows of the alleyway beneath where he leapt off the building. The faint sound of the Titans arguing above was like music to his ears. The looks on their faces when they saw him were absolutely priceless. Almost worth the trouble he went through trying to get away from those meddling punks.

He hadn't felt a rush like that in a while, dodging energy blasts, kicking Robin's ass, flirting… It wasn't half bad for his first battle as Red X. The fact that he had chosen the same name that his predecessor had chosen was no surprise, it was only natural that they were somewhat alike. Robin was every bit as skilled as he was and maybe more, but there was one thing he had that Robin didn't.

A high tech battlesuit

That and rugged good looks, he thought as he turned on the Xenothium detector. Adjusting it to ignore his belt, Red X quickly picked up a signal. Still pumped from his encounter, Red X dashed off.

XXX

The Jump City Skyline was truly a sight to behold, especially at night

Red X stood atop a skyscraper on the other side of the city, his cape billowing in the wind as he eyed his target.

Below him was a fairly large golden building, the headquarters of som firm that Red X couldn't be bothered to remember. There didn't seem to be much security around either, which probably meant that the building had a far more sophisticated security system. Thankfully the Xenothium detector would spare him a repeat of what happened when he broke into Wayne-Tech, he just had to follow the signal….

Familiar voices coming from an adjacent rooftop reminded him that he had something new to worry about…

He could just leave them alone, slink away into the darkness, make his way down and take the Xenothium…

But where was the fun in that?

'…You are no longer the one inside the suit.' He heard the alien say to Robin

Couldn't have asked for a better setup line.

'And personally…' Red X spoke, striking a pose, 'I think it looks much cooler on me.' Pulling out his shuriken, he leapt off the roof toward the startled titans…

XXX

'That was fun,' Red X thought, softly chuckling to himself as he casually sauntered over to the doors of the lab and pushed them open.

He had relaxed a little bit for the last fight, probably because he had taken out the other three so that he could focus on humiliating Robin. Snapping his mask was certainly one of the most satisfying things that he had done since he got the suit.

The cloaked black figure silently walked through dull halls of the underground complex, a gun-shaped scanner in his hand. As he followed the trail to the Xenothium Red X thought back to the conversation he had sat in on back on the roof, Robin seemed to be taking his theft rather hard, brooding about it being all his fault. He was right about that, after all, he was the one who upped and left, leaving his position open for some poor unfortunate soul to fill in his shoes, he had Robin to thank for what he was today…

_XXX_

_Living off the livelihoods of other people may have been 'wrong', but life as a pickpocket was nothing compared to this._

_Everyday it seemed like he was either training or studying, he hardly had any time to himself now that he was living with his mentor. The process was always the same: Wake up, read books, spar, go out for patrol, sleep. It was particularly bad when there was nothing going on during patrol, because then, he didn't have anyone to take out his frustrations on._

_And all the while his boss was never satisfied; His new protégé was never smart enough, skilled enough or strong enough for him, always talking about how great his last 'son' was…_

_XXX_

Red X soon arrived at a large vault door, a small control panel a little ways in front of it. Guess he had finally found what he was looking for. Walking over to the control panel, Red X was about to start hacking into the door controls when he heard footsteps coming from down the hall. Red X quickly switched his belt's controls to stealth mode, and disappeared into the shadows.

It was Robin, all alone, he walked past where Red X was hiding and stopped at the vault door, as if wondering if he had found the Xenothium. Suddenly, a terrified scream echoed through the hall.

'Starfire?'

Robin turned around and started back toward the panel, Red X took this chance to appear behind him. Reminiscing had stirred up rage that he hadn't felt since the days he spent under his former boss, he wasn't going to let Robin walk away this time…

'What's the matter kid?' Red X said coldly, pulling out a handful of shuriken 'Don't you want to play? After all, they're your toys.'

Robin swiftly ducked the oncoming projectiles, which hit the control console, blowing it into scrap metal. The gears in the vault door began to turn, opening to reveal hundreds of laser trip wires, Red X flipped backwards into the room, with his foe not far behind…

XXX

Well, he was right about the security.

Laser trip wires, forcefields a freaking proton cannon? He certainly had to give them credit for designing the most screwed up vault in the universe…

Of course, he didn't have much problem maneuvering through the security. As did Robin, but that was to be expected. As he walked away towards the final vault door, he felt a pang of guilt inside him, maybe leaving Robin to get vaporized was too harsh…

_The old Robin wouldn't have fallen into that trap…_

All trace of guilt vanished as Red X began to pick the vault door.

XXX

'I'll be back to take you the jail.' And with that, Robin left Red X alone in the room.

Red X eyed the control panel in front of him. As soon as he was sure Robin was far enough away, he carefully aimed his hand at the console and fired. He brought up his cape to shield himself from the resulting explosion, and heard the bars slowly retract. Stepping out of the light, he pondered his next move.

His day just seemed to be getting better and better, first he got caught be an office worker, then the titans came after him and now some crazed madman had just stolen all of his Xenothium.

Well, it wasn't exactly his…

His fight with Robin this time had been more intense, heck he even threatened to blow the both of them up. Of course, Robin saw through his bluff… Just like daddy trained him.

There was definitely a lot of the old man in him, interrogating him mid-battle, going on about the whole situation like it was black and white; Robin took things way too seriously…

But Robin's words had struck a chord within the thief, even if he didn't show it. He had tried being the good guy once, and all that got him was broken bones and no respect. So what if the some lunatic had gotten his hands on a doomsday weapon, it wasn't his problem, he had the money, he could just skip town.

He didn't care.

_XXX_

_He looked out of the window from his room, at the tall, dark spires of his hometown, somewhere out there, a madman was trying to sell off a bomb to the highest bidder._

_His mentor had told him to stay inside, that he wouldn't be able to make rational decisions, especially considering who was involved…_

_He had been saying that a lot lately, though it was a different excuse every time. Ever since that time when a perpetrator fell off a roof during a chase. He was probably wasting time talking to the commissioner right now, when he could be tracking down the bomb._

_In a flash the boy made up his mind, quietly creeping out of his room. He wasn't going to sit idly by while some maniac threatened his city…_

_XXX_

Red X silently popped out the belt's Xenothium vial, he still had enough left for one last fight. Stowing it away, he sprinted toward the exit.

XXX

In a dark alleyway in the slums of Jump City, the sound of metal sliding across pavement broke through the silence of the night. From within an open manhole the ebony form of super-thief Red X emerged, covered head to toe in sewage, and extremely pissed off. He was lucky that the grappling hook wasn't Xenothium powered or he'd have been an X-shaped splatter amongst the rocks at the bottom of the cliff.

After saving the entire city as well as the Titans from being vaporized, all he got out of it were a few tubes of Xenothium that he had picked up during the commotion, all useless now that his belt had been taken away. He should have just disappeared once the cannon started slicing the lab in half; but no, he just had to stick around and taunt Robin didn't he… The thief got to his feet and started for home, pondering his next move as he leapt up onto the fire escape on the adjacent building.

X still couldn't figure out how Robin had snatched the belt from literally under his nose, but that wasn't important. Robin had probably hidden the belt away in another safe in the tower, without the belt, Red X was just an ordinary thief again.

He caught sight of the damaged Titans Tower when he reached the top of the apartment. 'At least I'm not the only one who got screwed over,' he though giving a small chuckle at the giant hole in the roof, 'It'll take them forever to get that hole fixed…'

A sudden realization hit him as he stared at the Titans Tower, and a manic grin spread over the thief's unseen face.

XXX

As the sun set the following day, Robin knelt down atop the tower, pondering the events that had transpired. Dr. Chang had been arrested, most of the Xenothium had been recovered and the city was kind enough to pay to repair the damages done to their home, but it seemed like a bittersweet victory, because there was still no sign of Red X.

He wondered if he had made a mistake in not getting the suit destroyed: It would have been difficult, but not completely impossible. The world would have been short one supervillain, but also short of one city. He couldn't deny that he probably wouldn't have stopped Chang if it wasn't for X.

In the end, somehow things had all worked out for the better. Red X had helped them stop a bad guy this one time, and now the source of his power was back in the hands of the one who created him.

With the belt now safely locked away, he knew that Red X was now nothing more than a common criminal, but he had a strange, unsettling feeling that he hadn't seen the last of him…

The sound of someone yelling in pain shocked Robin out of his thoughts, looking down at the construction site he saw a pizza delivery boy hopping around in pain. He was carrying a stack of pizzas in his hands, and had the brightest red hair Robin had ever seen.

'Oh, sorry to disturb you Mr. Robin, sir,' the boy laughed sheepishly, 'I was just delivering these pizzas to the workers and I sorta stubbed my toe…'

Robin smiled back and gave a thumbs up, signaling the boy to be on his way. The boy nodded furiously and ran off deeper into the construction site, disappearing from view.

Robin went turned back towards the sea once again, that unsettling feeling still lingering in his…

Wait a minute.

The construction workers called it a day hours ago…

His eyes widening in horror, Robin leapt down into the tower and sprinted towards the Red X vault, cursing himself for not realizing it sooner. Dialing in the combination, he flung the safe open.

The belt sat atop its counter, unmoved, and untouched. Right where he left it.

'It's still here.' Robin sighed with relief…

'Heads up.' Came a hollow voice from behind him, Robin turned around only to have a pizza smashed into his face, sending him down onto the floor. Getting up and rubbing the cheese and pepperoni from his eyes, he saw the pizza delivery boy standing at the vault, clipping the belt onto his waist.

'Same room again kid?' chuckled the boy, 'You really are predictable.'

Before Robin could reply, there were several loud bangs and the room filled up with smoke. When it finally cleared, the thief was gone.

Red X had struck again.

***END***

A/N:

Hey everyone, its been awhile hasn't it? Heh heh…

I would make some excuse about my computer getting fragged by a virus, or that my house was burnt down but I won't. The truth is my interest in Teen Titans has waned, that coupled with the difficulty I had in writing this chapter made this whole thing start seeming more and more like a chore.

In my opinion, this chapter is of significantly lower quality than the previous one. Mostly because it is a rewrite of the 'X' episode, and thus relies on you having seen it in order to understand what is going on. It isn't as reader-friendly as the previous chapter and I apologize, I simply couldn't work in novelized versions of the scenes without it seeming awkward and out of place.

I might rewrite it someday, but probably only when my interest in the Titans picks up again (when they finally get the second movie out probably). Until then, this will be the end of 'The series' for now, consider this an unaired pilot of sorts, sitting in the back of a studio storeroom waiting for someone to develop it. I still have many ideas for this series, but for now, they are going to have to wait.

I hope you enjoyed what I did manage to get out, and I'm sorry if I disappointed anyone with the lack of updates.


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